The feared Aussie flu bug seems to be taking a grip on the county as the first cases have been reported in Leicestershire.

The flu strain, which originated Down Under, arrived in the UK recently and has now spread to most parts of the country.

It is putting the NHS under strain in many parts.

Locally, flusurvey.org.uk , a site used by researchers at Public Health England and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to monitor flu trends in the UK, has seen a rise in reports of flu-like illnesses in the LE postcode.

A map showing instances of flu-like instance reports shows Hinckley is in a red zone indicating a high number of reports.

However other areas seem to have been hit harder.

A map from flusurvey.org showing reports of influenza like illness. Higher instances are displayed by red and fewer in blue. (Image: flusurvery.org/google maps)

Flusurvey.org.uk which relies solely on user submitted reports, says there have been 70 flu reports in the past three weeks, and has 11 current cases logged.

Hospitals are bracing for an epidemic as a swamped NHS deals with one of the worst influenza seasons in 50 years, with flu rates nationwide already twice as high as last year.

More than 1,600 cases of Aussie flu, the H3N2 strain, alone have been reported so far, but the actual total is feared to be far higher.